“MPs are to debate the government’s Protection of Freedoms bill later, which ministers claim will protect millions of people in England and Wales ‘from unwarranted state intrusion in their private lives’.”

“Identity cards will be consigned to history today as the database recording the biometric details of thousands of people goes up in flames. Hard disk drives from the national identity register, which underpinned the ID card scheme, will be shredded and incinerated in a symbolic demonstration of efforts to rein back the ‘database state’ and restore civil liberties.”